Friday Ephemera

Actual science, people. || Ladder commercial of note. || Lab research of note. || Meanwhile, in Roswell, New Mexico, the visitors are contained. || Today’s word is excavation. || Uncle Tom. || The caring kind. || Consequences. (h/t, Jeff) || I learned a new word today. || Plant nuggets. They taste like chicken, apparently. || GoPro inside a car tyre. || Harry Potter – but with guns. || Musically speaking, a partial success. || Mercedes in peril. || Heh. (h/t, Damian) || Dinnertime negotiation of note. Our place in the food chain is safe, for now. || And how was your day? || She does this better than you. || Often-filmed rock formations. || And finally, a job done, though perhaps not quite as smoothly as one might have hoped.

Comments

[Hal]

Ladder commercial of note.

A second wave of pies was already in the air, circling the room in trajectories that dropped them into the struggling Lavishes. And then a figure fought its way out of the crowd, to the groans and screams of those who’d temporarily been in its way; this was because those who managed to escape having their feet trodden on by the big shoes jumped back in time to be scythed down by the ladder the newcomer was carrying. Then it’d innocently turned to see what mayhem it had caused, and the swinging ladder felled anyone too slow to get away. There was a method to it, though; as Moist watched, the clown stepped away from the ladder, leaving four people trapped among the rungs in such a way that any attempt to get out would cause huge pain to the other three and, in the case of one of the watchmen, a serious impairment of marriage prospects.

---Terry Pratchett, Making Money

[Hal]

Horrifying Satanic messages revealed when playing the the video backwards!!!

[Angus]

Murphy Ladder; shut up and take my money!

Assuming that a portion of sales goes to our host...

[WTP]

Heh

Wife and I had wanted to see the 1969 UK film Kes and it finally showed up in our YouTube Library last week. Best foreign language film lacking subtitles that I've ever seen. Do you suppose a class or two in lip reading might have helped?

[Richard Cranium]

Lab research of note.

They didn't give the standard deviation for length.

As a software engineer, I know there is a difference between is-a and has-a. Modesty demands silence, at this point.

[Daniel Ream]

Ladder commercial of note.

That is Old Spice-worthy.

[Clam]

Harry Potter – but with guns.

Brilliant. :-)

[David]

Morning, all.

Brilliant. :-)

It does, er, add a new twist to some familiar scenes. Needless to say, the studio doesn’t approve and I’ve had to replace the link several times already. It’s actually the work of an anti-gun campaigner, though I’m not entirely sure it conveys the intended message.

[David]

“This isn’t your world anymore.”

[asiaseen]

Cunnilingus

Very scientific; "This criterion excluded scenes in which ejaculation occurred either inside the woman or outside the camera’s view, or in which no ejaculation occurred." No teaspoons required.

[Serena]

I've never understood the persistent urge of anti-gun folks to commandeer the Harry Potter franchise to use in their anti-gun arguements. It's a world where everyone is handed a potentially deadly personal weapon at age eleven-subsidized if they're too poor to buy one on their own-the weapon is then carried more or less constantly, while explicitly evil totalitarian characters deny equal rights to people they consider to be inferior to them by stripping them of their weapons.

[David]

I’ve never understood the persistent urge of anti-gun folks to commandeer the Harry Potter franchise

Yes, thematically, it’s not an obvious vehicle for anti-gun sentiment. The chief monster of the story is stopped, and the world saved, only by a combination of wits, bravery, and good people with powerful weapons.

[David]

I’ve never understood the persistent urge of anti-gun folks to commandeer the Harry Potter franchise

In fact, one thing that irritated me slightly about the final film was the last-minute fudging of agency in the killing of Voldemort. I haven’t read the books and it’s possible I’ve missed something – I’m by no means steeped in the mythos – but in the film, the villain’s destruction looks a bit of a moral convenience, a technical rebound of sorts. In moral terms, it should, I think, be clearer that Harry, our hero, has to kill Voldemort. The dragon has to be slain. Rather than, as it appears, being spared that grim responsibility by a sub-clause of how wands supposedly work.

[JuliaM]

’ The chief monster of the story is stopped, and the world saved, only by a combination of wits, bravery, and good people with powerful weapons.’

Can anyone think of a film where that doesn’t happen..?

[Ted S, Catskill Mtns, NY, USA]

The Andromeda Strain?

[Ted S, Catskill Mtns, NY, USA]

No guns in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, either.

[David]

This is where so much ground has been ceded to the censorious bunch - that we’re having a conversation about whether one is entitled to an opinion.

An interview with Laurence Fox.

[Jonathan]

Game review of Note.

[David]

Game review of Note.

Pretentious sourness is very now. Moody teen chic.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

“This isn’t your world anymore.”

You all are complaining too much, all I could think of a bunch of oppressed youths screaming it wasn't her world and succeeding in wrapping police tape around a little old lady reeking of white privilege, was that it was exactly like raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi and just as brave.

[Squires]

Can anyone think of a film where that doesn’t happen..?

Juraz Herz’s The Cremator.

[PiperPaul]

Harry Potter – but with guns.

I thought that was going to be this:

[pst314]

but in the film, the villain’s destruction looks a bit of a moral convenience, a technical rebound of sorts. In moral terms, it should, I think, be clearer that Harry, our hero, has to kill Voldemort. The dragon has to be slain. Rather than, as it appears, being spared that grim responsibility by a sub-clause of how wands supposedly work.

Retreating from the moral necessity of good people killing evil people is a mark of cowardice--cowardice of the worst sort. It is a childish denial of reality and of what is necessary to live in this real flawed world.

[Adam]

Not that I've ever watched porn, but a friend who has tells me that the ejaculate in porn is mostly faked, enhanced for visual effect. Or maybe the researchers aren't referring to ejaculate in the videos....?

[David]

Retreating from the moral necessity of good people killing evil people is a mark of cowardice

Well, in effect, Voldemort inadvertently kills himself due to a wand-ownership technicality and a rebounding spell. (Even at the very end, with everything at stake, Harry is still using non-lethal magic, unlike his foes.) As a literary hubris-nemesis thing, it doesn’t quite work, and as a moral parable, it stumbles at the finishing line. As you say, it’s a kind of moral squeamishness. In the real world, you can’t rely on some convenience that spares you the responsibility of doing what needs to be done. I realise this may be asking a lot of a film series aimed chiefly at children and teenagers. But there are plenty of older children’s stories that don’t fudge the issue.

[Sam]

I halfway figured the Harry Potter video was anti-gun but holy crap that was great. The last attempt to highlight the "absurdity" of guns I saw was that Clive Owen cringefest Shoot 'Em Up. This was so, so much better though - as David says - I don't think the greatness achieved was the one intended.

[Sam]

"California's Alabama Hills"

It's no wonder you furriners have trouble understanding the US.

[Governor Squid]

But there are plenty of older children’s stories that don’t fudge the issue.

My generation grew up watching Transformers and G.I. Joe cartoons where hundreds of laser bolts filled the screen without anybody ever getting hit. It took some deprogramming at the range for me to learn that 'shooting at somebody' is nowhere near as effective as 'shooting somebody'.

But now I know. And knowing is half the battle.

[Sam]

As you say, it’s a kind of moral squeamishness. In the real world, you can’t rely on some convenience that spares you the responsibility of doing what needs to be done

Consider the author, specifically her stunning bravery for retconning the race of her characters and her support for unfettered immigration to other people's neighborhoods, only to melt from criticism at her first departure from the radical dogma on gender communism. She, and many other soft-leftists, are more than willing to wage the culture war from afar but are unable to actually DO anything to stop the nightmare they helped create.

[RNB]

David: "In the real world, you can’t rely on some convenience that spares you the responsibility of doing what needs to be done." Not entirely unrelated: Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima.

[Captain Nemo]

An interview with the film composer John Williams: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-force-is-still-strong-with-john-williams

[Darleen]

California's Alabama Hills

Also Vasquez Rocks and the former Iverson Ranch - both in SoCal just north of Los Angeles.

[WTP]

It's no wonder you furriners have trouble understanding the US.

Or consider just Pennsylvania. Especially western Pennsylvania...

Bethlehem
Nazareth
California
Erie
Indiana
York
Lebanon
Whitehall
Wyoming
Forrest Hills
Stowe
Exeter
Oxford
Athens
Derry
New Castle
(king of) Prussia
Manchester
Washington

And those are just off the top of my head due to limited familiarity. And that's putting aside "Moon". Not to mention Intercourse...for other reasons.

[Fred the Fourth]

Capt.,
No, no.
It's "Johnny Williams".
Cf. the credits to "How to Steal a Million".

[Sam Duncan]

Moscow, Dallas, Newark.

[WTP]

Heh...Actually my wife is from Scranton and there's a Moscow right near there that comes up in conversation at times. Funny I neglected it. But in my defense, that's in eastern PA. The dark side.

Though I do see where Newark Castle (Scotts) and Newark-on-Trent (England...presumably on a "trent") would be a challenge.

[Darleen]

It's no wonder you furriners have trouble understanding the US.

Also, try searching movie/tv locations in California and you can't quite remember "Iverson Ranch" but you remember it's in the California city of Chatsworth. Heh.

[Captain Nemo]

It's "Johnny Williams".
Cf. the credits to "How to Steal a Million".

Although that's one of my favourite Audrey Hepburn films, I'd never noticed that he was credited in that manner. You learn something new every day.

[Sam]

I've seen the US voter ID debate revving up ahead of the election most vulnerable to cheating in living memory. The NPC position almost always relies on the tried and true "but poor people" trope. So I decided to look up some stats I find relevant:

(1) The median income for Hispanic Americans is roughly $24K/yr (lower than blacks btw)
(2) The average* Mexican-national wage is roughly $16K/yr (*couldn't find the median)
(3) Mexico requires voter ID's

If an opponent of voter IDs were advising the Mexican government what arguments would they use to advocate their position given IDs are already required?

Fire up your Turing Machine and guess what they would answer. I think they would brave the racist waters and suggest Mexico has a less-than-trustworthy government, so IDs are ineffective.

[Y. Knott]

Heh. "An Englishman thinks 100 miles is a long way - an American thinks 100 years is a long time."

[Sam]

Low-IQ useful idiots will interpret this as helping Republicans. Well, the <5% who will even be aware of such things.

[Colin]

Speaking of guns, remember the A team, massive gunfire and no one getting hit

[WTP]

Speaking of guns, remember the A team, massive gunfire and no one getting hit

Heh. I remember a helicopter chase where the bad guys crash into the side of a mountain, explosion, fire, but the bad guys stumble out unharmed except for the smoke inhalation. Which today they'd prolly have to do away with the fire and smoke. Ah, but that was the appeal of the A Team.

[asiaseen]

massive gunfire and no one getting hit

Christopher Brookmyre in One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night has a discussion about the conventions of BDQ (Bullet Deadliness Quotient)in action movies - barrage v single shot and never the two shall mix, and for goodies, when wounded, it's always a non-disabling shot to the shoulder

[WTP]

Ping! So as I am now getting (mostly) out from under my miserable cash flow problem of the last few years, and as we are approaching happy hour...well here anyway, I thought I would buy a round of MD 20/20 camel humpfat martinis for the house. Hell, throw in a splash of Amaretto while you're at it, barkeep.

[David]

Ping!

Bless you, sir. Should you find yourself walking around the supermarket in one of these, and slightly irked by the fact that it makes your glasses steam up, may you know the unexpected pleasure of said item triggering loud and infectious delight in a chap with Down’s syndrome.

[WTP]

Heh. Thanks. Well my mask, the only one I will wear, consists of a picture of Trump's mouth and the word "Chi-na". Which itself does trigger a degree of infectious delight. Especially up here in the GA mountains.

[Alex DeWynter]

Also Vasquez Rocks and the former Iverson Ranch - both in SoCal just north of Los Angeles.

Don't forget Cleveland National Forest, which is between Los Angeles and San Diego.

[Pooklord]

If there is one thing I know, I will never read Terry Pratchett.

[David]

Heh.

I ran into him twice on different aisles, and again at the checkout, each time with the exact same result. He was instantly joyous, an effect that seemed to radiate outwards, improving the moods of anyone nearby. Steamed-up spectacles was a small price to pay.

[John]

FWIW clicking the link and reading your story has improved my own mood by a small but clearly discernible amount.

[David]

clicking the link and reading your story has improved my own mood by a small but clearly discernible amount.

Paying it forward, as they say.

[asiaseen]

I will never read Terry Pratchett

Your quality of life will thereby be greatly diminished

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Third world parking problems.

[Rick Henwood]

Musically speaking, a partial success.

Doesn't quite measure up to other musical instruments

[David]

Doesn’t quite measure up to other musical instruments

Despite obvious effort and some ingenuity, it does seem rather, um, limited in its applications.

[Rick Henwood]

Doesn’t quite measure up to other musical instruments"

Missed it by inches? Millimetres? Or a whole yardstick?

[Captain Nemo]

Musically speaking, a partial success.

I wonder if it could play Rule Britannia?

[Hal]

Your quality of life will thereby be greatly diminished

Of course Death rides a horse, how else would he get around.

And certainly, the horse does have a name.

Binky.

[Rick Henwood]

I wonder if it could play Rule Britannia?

I don't see why not. Certainly should be able to play Aerosmith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gweUVWUYYQ8